Brightness Fall
Poems
by Ellen
Steinbaum
CW Books
Cincinnati OH
Copyright © 2013
by Ellen Steinbaum
83 pages,
softbound, no price listed
Review by Zvi A.
Sesling
To the long line
of women who have written books of “confessional” poetry, we can add Ellen Steinbaum,
whose most recent book is Brightness
Falls. Steinbaum’s poetry is gentle
and sympathetic to our senses, certainly as revealing as her predecessors who
write about their lives and loves.
There are four
sections to this book, the first, “Begin Again”
starts with untethered and is
followed by begin again, two fifteen
line poems in which we learn she is alone with, in the first a “solace/of
pillows” and in the second “with beach grass blade/for compass.”
In the first
scenario we can see her alone in her bed, the empty pillow next to her where he
late husband would have been, something
everyone experiences with the loss of a partner. In the second poem there is another
recollection with which we can associate, our confusion at suddenly being alone
and like wind blowing through grass and the grass perhaps bending in so many
directions, we find ourselves directionless, unsure of where we want to go or should, not metaphorically, but
actually.
In one of her
longer poems Steinbaum reveals what life was like for her before she met her
new husband, though we do not learn how much time has passed after the death of
her first husband before the new relationship.
Before I Met Him
I was fine
gave dinner
parties
grew a garden
read the papers
paid my bills
repainted rooms
and
bought new dishes
went to ballets
wrote my will
had a new book
out
visited
family
tried new recipes
tried new wines
made new friends
and
wrote new poems
had (small)
adventures
I was fine
I was fine
had (small)
adventures
wrote new poems
made new friends
and
tried new wines
tried new recipes
visited family
had a new book
out
wrote my will
went to ballets
bought new dishes
repainted rooms
and
paid my bills
grew a garden
gave dinner
parties
I was fine
I was fine
Males and females
can associate with the emotions of having a departed spouse and the need to
move on in life. Perhaps everyone’s method is different, but the underlying
attempts to restart and reshape are all there.
Unlike some who
might search for romance and a new beginning, there are those who do not
consciously make the effort.
widow’s walk
she didn’t want
to
want again
yearn for arms
around her
arms holding her
new kisses
skin warmed
by new hands
she didn’t want
to dance
drop dizzily
from brightness
to deep shadow
want to go
instead
on her even way
stay small and
folded from the
light
never venture
into crowded
streets
she never wanted
she never
dreamed
This poem
reflects both the prelude to hope and the movement to the next phase of a life,
from to companionship to love confirmed by the first stanza of:
there will be
worse (I)
after the
argument
he says there
will
be worse and I
think those
are words of love
There are times
when readers wonder if Steinbaum is writing about her deceased husband or her
new mate. There are times when readers are left with no doubt it is about the
present and the future, and while brightness may fall, a new sun rises for her.
This book is a
“must read” for everyone who has survived and recovered from loss. It is for everyone else as well.
__________________________________________
Zvi A. Sesling
Reviewer for Boston Small Press and Poetry Scene
Author, King of the Jungle (Ibbetson Press)
Author, Across Stones of Bad Dreams (Cervena Barva
Press)
Publisher, Muddy
River Books
Editor, Muddy River Poetry Review
Editor, Bagel Bards Anthologies 7& 8
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